Recently, electric vehicles (EVs), which can provide a clean environment by preventing atmospheric pollution caused by exhaust gases, are being vigorously marketed. When it is intended to popularize the electric vehicles, one of the problems is that a battery mounted on the electric vehicle is expensive. For example, it is pointed out that a largest cost factor of the electric vehicle is the battery. Further, a sales system for leasing a battery by separating a battery cost from a vehicle cost has been also proposed.
Incidentally, a lease is roughly classified into a finance lease and an operating lease. A difference between the finance lease and the operating lease lies in whether or not a residual value is set. “Residual value” means a value of an object to be leased at the time a lease period expires.
In the finance lease, an amount obtained by dividing an object price by a lease period becomes the base of a lease fee, whereas in the operating lease, an amount obtained by dividing a difference between an object price and a residual value by a lease period becomes the base of a lease fee.
Accordingly, when a sales system for leasing a rechargeable battery is employed and the operating lease can be applied, a lease fee can be reduced by an amount corresponding to the residual value, and thus it is considered that the sales system will contribute to popularization of the expensive rechargeable battery.
However, heretofore, since the SLI battery (starting, lighting, ignition) equipped with car is treated as consumables because the life of the SLI battery is shorter than that of a vehicle main body, the SLI battery cannot be treated as a subject of the operating lease. Thus, the remaining life and the value calculation of the large rechargeable battery, which must have a long life so that it can be installed in the electric vehicle, are not sufficiently examined.
Accordingly, when it is intended to lease the rechargeable battery, there are needs for an apparatus for making it possible to appropriately evaluate the value of a rechargeable battery in respective situations before, during, and after the lease.